10th Oxford Workshop on Global Priorities Research

27-28 June 2022, online

Topic

Global priorities research investigates the question, ‘What should we do with our limited resources, if our goal is to do the most good?’ This question has close connections with central issues in philosophy and economics, among other fields.

This event will focus on the following two areas of global priorities research:

  1. The longtermism paradigm. Longtermism claims that, because of the potential vastness of the future of sentient life, agents aiming to do the most good should focus on improving the very long-run future, rather than on more immediate considerations. We are interested in articulating, considering arguments for and against, and exploring the implications of this longtermist thesis.
  2. General issues in cause prioritisation. We will also host talks on various cause prioritisation issues not specific to longtermism - for instance, issues in  decision theory, epistemology, game theory and optimal timing/optimal stopping theory.

These two categories of topics are elaborated in more detail in Sections 1 and 2 (respectively) of GPI’s research agenda.

Schedule

Monday 27 June- Session A

TimeSession
9:30-10:30Registration, light breakfast and networking
10:30-11:10Benjamin Tereick, "Creating short-term proxies for long-term forecasts"
11:10-11:30Nicholas Otis, "Policy Choice and the Wisdom of Crowds"
11:30-12:15Break/time for 1-1 meetings
12:15-12:55Teru Thomas, "Multiverse and the Veil: Population Ethics and Uncertainty"
13:00-14:30Break/time for 1-1 meetings
14:30-14:50Opening remarks and introduction to GPI
14:50-15:50Panel: Future research directions on long-run population growth
15:50-16:30Break/time for 1-1 meetings
16:30-17:10Timothy Williamson, "Imprecise Risk-Attitudes and Tiny Probabilities"
17:10-17:30Dean Spears, "Is low fertility about constraints or preferences?: Work in early progress
17:30-18:30Drinks/reception

Monday 27 June- Session B
Monday 27 June- Session C
Monday 27 June- Session D
Tuesday 28 June - Session A
Tuesday 28 June - Session B
Thursday 24 June - Session C
Tuesday 28 June - Session D